Get Your Regen Ag Marketing House in Order to Kick Off the New Year!!

Happy New Year! 

Holy Smokes! It’s 2025! Building on Last Year's Lessons!!

Lots of exclamation points because it seems like this year whizzed by. Did you accomplish everything you set out to do? I know I have a lot of unfinished business, but I learned a lot in 2024. So, let’s all build on what we’ve learned.

In AG there aren’t ever actually new starts - there are continuations.

And because marketing is like AG and builds on past lessons, let’s look at what we learned, what worked, what may be Old Hat, and What’s (kinda) New when we’re talking about marketing your ag business.

Marketing to the Buying Behaviors of Your Customers - Even if It’s the Grain Elevator

You may think this doesn’t pertain to you if you’re a conventional row-crop farmer but don’t get too complacent with the ways things have been. Every link in the supply chain is eventually connected to the consumer. And that brings us to one of the major trends for 2025

Consumers are Looking for Transparency from Field to Table, Fiber, Fuel, Any Product

The ability to trace the origins of their food, the clothes on their backs, and the materials that go into anything consumed is becoming important to a whole new generation of consumers. Consumer demands work their way down to the farm or ranch by way of the processors in the supply chain. Be sure you know the specs for premium payments. 

And know that you have more options available to you if you pivot from conventional to regenerative farming. If you’re the first farm or ranch in your neighborhood, you’ll get the best prices. The law of supply and demand always works.

Let Folks Know You’re Using Eco-Friendly Ag Practices

No one can read your mind. And most of the consumers of Ag products have never seen a farm or ranch. You have to let those folks know you’ve heard them and are aligned with their values. Assuming you are, if not that’s

Is your messaging Ag-centric or Consumer-centric? It makes a huge difference. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no one cares about YOU. Folks only care that you supply the solution to THEIR problem. It’s all about them—always.

One way to determine if you need to change your messaging is to count how many times “I’ or “we” is used on a page vs “you” or “your.” There should be a lot of you's and a few I's. If you’ve got a ratio problem, you’re talking about you and your solution. Without letting the consumer know you understand their problem. Where’s the trust in that equation?  

Customer Interaction and Videos Are in Your Ag Operation Future

The new consumer is interested in all the steps in the supply chain. They are also more interested in your piece of the chain if you take them on a tour of your facility. Real-time engagement/live streaming are the most watched communication avenues for most of the under-35 set. The age range of 18-35 makes up over 30% of consumers and growing. So, whether you’re comfortable or not, getting in front of the camera and talking about what you’re doing is good for business. It engages the curiosity of the non-ag person, educates, and entertains. 

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Take a Page from the Big Ag Playbook

The great thing about business is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel continually. I sure don’t. You don’t get a new planter because you’re planting a different crop - you just recalibrate the old one, most of the time.

If you do have to create a new strategy look at all the old ones first. Is there a tweak you can do to make it yours? That’s the easiest and first step in marketing, which really pertains to marketing regen ag. 

Big Ag is serving out a solution to a problem. You can disagree about that solution, even if it's needed in the first place. But the bottom line is that the consumer (aka, rancher, farmer, or end consumer) perceives a problem, and that Big Ag/Big Chem has the solution. 

Look at how “Big” frames the solution. That will clue you into the perceived problem. Since the 1930s, Big Ag and Big Chem have been presenting solutions for “feeding the world," even though only about 37% of US production goes to feed people. The rest goes to processing, animal feed, biofuels, industrial uses, and export. The general public hears the Feed the World mantra in all Big Ag/Chem marketing. 

OK, so Regen Ag producers - can you feed the world? Should you pretend that’s what industrial ag does and follow suit in your messaging? Or should you call out that inaccuracy for what it is and tell, show, and demonstrate how you DO feed your community, region, and biome?  BE a disruptive voice in the ag community. If you don’t, you’ll continue to be drowned out by the Big Ag/Chem messaging until you throw in the towel, and they buy your farm. 

This requires you to actually BE a regen ag operator. And there are many of you. You’re trying to let folks know how you are saving our planet with regenerative practices. How’s that working for you? If it’s not working so well and you’re not getting a good portion of that 625K folks who are searching for healthy food every month you need to change something. Here’s one approach.

The Us VS Them Approach is Extremely Powerful

One way to find out what consumers are concerned about is to type in a search and then look at Google's “Questions Also Asked.” All you have to do is type into the search bar the question “What regen ag vs conventional ag questions do consumers ask” and you’ll get a lot of information on what’s important to the general public. Here’s an example from a few days ago (these questions change daily so you can watch trends - just a tip)

From the questions you get a lot of information: people want to know the downsides of regen ag, if other people care, and how it’s different. There's the added tidbit that most people seem to think commercial ag is “normal.”

Can you build a marketing campaign around that? Lots of mainstream businesses have built awareness around a lot less. We're not talking about followers here. We know you’re interested in conversions. Sales. Money to pay the mortgage. 

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Is Your Ag Operation Ready for Digital Marketing?

There are a number of links in a Marketing chain. On the digital side, there’s social media, email, website, video, and podcasts, to name a few. Print is not dead and is often needed for conferences, presentations, and even business cards. All of these links are interconnected. Your marketing campaign is only as strong as your weakest link. 

Sounds like a warfare analogy. In “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu he writes of the way to victories in warfare and tactics, “He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.” And that modification comes from knowing that “...the way is to avoid what is strong, and to strike at what is weak.”

How does this pertain to Ag Marketing? In war the battle is over territory, in marketing, it’s over market segments. Aren’t they the same? 

We’re talking about a war over the minds of consumers. In that contest, we need to know as much about the enemy (Big Ag/Chem) as we do about ourselves. We need to know their strengths and weaknesses. Then we can know how to wage the war. And we have to be able to convey that knowledge to consumers in a way that shows we understand their problems.

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Avoid the Pitfalls of AI

Almost everywhere you read about the evolution of AI and how AI will revolutionize marketing. But this must be taken with a huge dose of caution. From first-hand experience, I know how the use of AI can kill a campaign. Facebook shut down a complete campaign recently because of “copyright infringement” of an image of a jolly old man. 

A best practice when using AI is to be totally upfront about it and caption an image as “AI image rendering” and copy as “AI generated copy.” To be sure and keep yourself out of hot water the proper citation for AI-generated text is:

1. Describe the content - give a brief overview of the AI-generated text
2. Creator - say the content was generated using an AI tool
3. Date - when was the content generated
4. Which AI tool was used

This list is AI Generated: explanation of best practices for using AI, Microsoft Copilot, December 23, 2024, Microsoft Copilot. That’s the proper citation for this list generated by AI.

There are great uses for AI, but you have to be careful. Paying attention to this new knowledge base helps maintain transparency in your marketing and builds trust with your consumers.

AI images are more complex but also need citations. Most AI-generated images start with a text description from you in an AI image-generating tool. How precise you are in that description determines how successful you’ll be in AI understanding what you want to see. Here's what you need for a complete AI-generated image citation.

• Image description: regenerative and conventional fields side-by-side in a drought
• Created By: Microsoft 365 AI Image Generator
• Date December 23, 2024
• Tool: Microsoft Designer
• Source text: a regenerative field in drought next to a conventional field in drought

The more precise your language the better the image. If I wanted this to be a photographic image of the juxtaposition of these 2 different farming practices my explanation would be an entire paragraph, which I would have to cite to be in complete compliance.

But is it worth all this effort? Why not just take your own picture of a local regen/conventional field juxtaposition? Ask a friend who's willing to share their photos, and give them credit.

It would be so much more persuasive. And a helluva lot less work. (BTW: I’ve protected myself from copyright infringement issues by citing where this image came from)

I’ve encountered AI issues and know how terrible the consequences can be. Want to know more?

Contact me and I’ll share my war story. You only make an AI mistake once.

[email protected]

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Effective Social Media is Tied to a KickAss Website

Are you operating without a website? Or is your website a static monument to your creative efforts at the beginning of your regenerative journey? Websites are living breathing beings. If you want to rank on Google - which brings you leads - which turn into sales if your website is doing its job - then you need to make it a vibrant, content-filled space where new information is posted regularly. 

Even the best social media posts - with the best CTA (call to action) fail if your website doesn’t have the same excitement your social media post possessed. What are the bare minimums for an effective website?

The answer is there is no one-size-fits-all. Sounds like Regen Ag - right? There are some basics that every good website should have (in my opinion) that you can set up yourself. A website is more than one page. An effective website will have - at least:

• Home page
• About page
• Contact page
• Blog page

Best practices for websites include updates every 6 months (to check for broken links, add new images, rewrite old content) and a regular posting of new information your customers or potential clients will find interesting. Based on the questions people ask Google every day. 

Some businesses pay as a way to rank. Google makes that transparent by letting you know right up front that the business is “sponsored.” How often do you scroll right by that sponsored business to get to a “legitimate” one a little further down the page? One isn’t more legit than the other, they just use different marketing strategies.

Paying for exposure doesn’t mean that the company has any more information to answer your question or solve your problem, necessarily. But a business that ranks ORGANICALLY on Page 1 of Google has been deemed by Google (or other search engines) as having valuable content that answers the specific question asked by the searcher. 

That means you’ve used keywords people are typing and you’re answering their questions.

Search engines are in the business of answering people’s questions and keeping them on the platform. The longer a person stays on your site the more the search engine likes you. And the more questions you can answer (blog and web page content) the more the search engines will put you front and center. That’s optimizing your site for those keywords folks are typing and making your site easy for that visitor to navigate.   

Was this of value? My mission is to help businesses that are out to make an impact make more money. When you grow sustainably you have more revenue to funnel back into your business and your community. We’re all in the same boat. 

Let’s make sure our boat isn’t sinking! 

Contact me and let’s kickstart your business: 

[email protected] Home - 3 Pillars Marketing

3PM - It's Not Too Late!